In this year-long series, Anders Kelto follows the fortunes of a public high school in Cape Town. The Centre of Science and Technology is a magnet school that serves families in the low-income township of Khayelitsha.

COSAT is a science and technology high school teaching some of South Africa's poorest kids. Yet it has one of the highest graduation rates of any public high in the country. Its principal, Phadiela Cooper, is one reason why.

As president of South Africa, Mandela pushed for equality between blacks and whites in the nation's schools. Anders Kelto of PRI's The World went to a school he's been following for a year to find out what teenagers were feeling after Mandela's death.

See the makeover that transforms a poor and smart South African Cinderella into a beauty queen for a night. By day, she's a student in a remarkable science and tech high school that lifts kids from a poor township near Cape Town into a better life.

Wendy Lovett, a popular teacher at the South African math and science school COSAT, returned to her native United Kingdom recently. But she's leaving behind more than memories. She's leaving behind a bright, colorful classroom that students say helps them to achieve success.